Multi-Detector Coronary CT Imaging for the Identification of Coronary Artery Stenoses in a Real-World Population

BACKGROUND: Multi-detector computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a modality for the non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Prior studies have selected patients for evaluation and have excluded many of the real-world patients commonly encountered in daily practice. We compared 64-detector-CT (64-CT) to conventional coronary angiography (CA) to investigate the accuracy of 64-CT in determining significant coronary stenoses in a real-world clinical population. METHODS: A total of 1,818 consecutive patients referred for 64-CT were evaluated. CT angiography was performed using the GE LightSpeed VCT (GE((R)) Healthcare). Forty-one patients in whom 64-CT results prompted CA investigation were further evaluated, and results of the two diagnostic modalities were compared. RESULTS: A total of 164 coronary arteries and 410 coronary segments were evaluated in 41 patients (30 men, 11 women, age 39-85 years) who were identified by 64-CT to have significant coronary stenoses and who thereafter underwent CA. The overall per-vessel sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy at the 50% stenosis level were 86%, 84%, 65%, 95%, and 85%, respectively, and 77%, 93%, 61%, 97%, and 91%, respectively, in the per-segment analysis at the 50% stenosis level. CONCLUSION: 64-CT is an accurate imaging tool that allows a non-invasive assessment of significant CAD with a high diagnostic accuracy in a real-world population of patients. The sensitivity and specificity that we noted are not as high as those in prior reports, but we evaluated a population of patients that is typically encountered in clinical practice and therefore see more real-world results

Concept and optical design of the cross-disperser module for CRIRES

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Oliva, Ernesto, A. Tozzi, D. Ferruzzi, L. Origlia, A. Hatzes, R. Follert, T. Loewinger et al. "Concept and optical design of the cross-disperser module for CRIRES+." In SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation, pp. 91477R-91477R. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2014, which has been published in final form at 10.1117/12.2054381

From lamins to lamina: a structural perspective

Lamin proteins are the major constituents of the nuclear lamina, a proteinaceous network that lines the inner nuclear membrane. Primarily, the nuclear lamina provides structural support for the nucleus and the nuclear envelope; however, lamins and their associated proteins are also involved in most of the nuclear processes, including DNA replication and repair, regulation of gene expression, and signaling. Mutations in human lamin A and associated proteins were found to cause a large number of diseases, termed 'laminopathies.' These diseases include muscular dystrophies, lipodystrophies, neuropathies, and premature aging syndromes. Despite the growing number of studies on lamins and their associated proteins, the molecular organization of lamins in health and disease is still elusive. Likewise, there is no comprehensive view how mutations in lamins result in a plethora of diseases, selectively affecting different tissues. Here, we discuss some of the structural aspects of lamins and the nuclear lamina organization, in light of recent results

The in vitro phosphorylation of the co-chaperone mSTI1 by cell cycle kinases substantiates a predicted casein kinase II-p34(cdc2)-NLS(CcN) motif

The co-chaperone murine stress-inducible protein 1 (mSTI1), a Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein (Hop) homolog, functions as a physical link between Hsp70 and Hsp90 by mediating the formation of the mSTI1/ Hsp70/Hsp90 chaperone heterocomplex. We show here that mSTI1 is an in vitro substrate of cell cycle kinases. Casein kinase II (CKII) phosphorylates mSTI1 at S189, and cdc2 kinase (p34cdc2) at T198, substantiating a predicted CKII-p34cdc2-NLS (CcN) motif. The possible implications of this phosphorylation as a cell cycle checkpoint are discussed